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Friday, January 3, 2014

A House Divided .... By Its Government .... "Animal Farm" Revisited

When reading "1984" while still in high school, it seemed so far away in the future.

Now the year 1984 seems so far away in the distant past.

But Big Brother has come to America and stayed.

And it seems that we live in an "Animal Farm," government knows best fairy tale land where words mean what the politicians say they mean.

Or at least too many of We the People are willing members of the herd being misled by the powers in elitist Washington (and now New York City, Illinois, California and numerous other city and state governments as well).

Where will it all lead? Time will tell.

But in the end, We the People will decide.

It's our power that's been hijacked by the government knows best gangs throughout America. We can take it back whenever we decide to do so. The U.S. Constitution is still in effect, and elections do matter.

Here's a flavor of what getting the government we deserve and living on today's version of America's 'Animal Farm' are all about:

"This past year will be remembered for many things, but let 2013 be hailed mainly for this: It was the year that the genius of George Orwell's "Animal Farm" became clear in America. Efforts to centralize control in the name of "fairness" have led to a society that is ever more at the mercy of a federal power—one that decides who does and does not succeed. The winners are favored special interests, political cronies and wealthy lobbyists. The losers are everyone else. . . .

Within minutes of 2013's beginning, Congress had passed its huge new tax-cliff increase, which President Obama crowed would ensure that "millionaires and billionaires" will "pay their fair share." Yet included in that bill was $40 billion in exemptions for the politically powerful—Michigan Nascar-track owners, rum distillers, renewable energy firms, and so on.

ObamaCare was passed in the name of equalizing health care. Yet it was Congress and its staffers who got special dispensation to keep a generous health subsidy—when no other Americans did. It was powerful corporate America, with its influential lobbyists, that got an additional year to meet the insurance mandate—when individuals did not. It was the unions that got a reprieve from a health-insurance tax—when individuals and small businesses were left to pick up the tab.

In August, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a new ethanol mandate, though it exempted one lucky refinery in Louisiana, out of 143 nationwide. That refinery happens to be under the patronage of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, up for re-election this year.

Congressional Democrats advanced measures in 2013 to pile new taxes on fossil fuel companies. This, as the Energy Department continued to absorb the losses of Solyndra, A123 Systems, and other taxpayer-funded green-energy firms, some of which are owned by political donors to Mr. Obama.

The Justice Department in November settled with J.P. MorganJPM in Your ValueYour ChangeShort position for $13 billion, for the sin of dealing in "toxic" mortgage-backed securities. Some of that payout will go to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FMCC in Your ValueYour ChangeShort positionsources of the housing collapse that are nonetheless wards of the state—and thus, apparently, safe from Justice lawsuits. . . .

In April, the IRS was outed for targeting conservative political groups. The Obama administration in December issued new rules that will institutionalize this silencing of conservative free speech under the guise of regulating 501(c)(4) organizations. Unions, which file under a different IRS nonprofit category, will continue unmolested.

The EPA this summer conducted an armed raid of a mining facility in Alaska, over putative violations of the Clean Water Act. The Federal Trade Commission harassed a nonprofit representing piano teachers, over ginned up antitrust violations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began cracking down on small, family farms, operations meant to be exempt from that agency's regulation. By contrast, the administration has yet to announce a single prosecution of a single individual at the IRS. . . .

There's plenty more, but you get the picture. In "Animal Farm" George Orwell set out to show how power inevitably corrupts, no matter how noble the intention. A group of animals initially centralize control over the farm to ensure that "All animals are equal." Yet the novel ends with the barnyard commandants—high on their righteousness—reducing the commandments to just one: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Indeed, in ObamaWorld, many millionaires, health-care buyers, energy companies, subprime dealers, political groups, and bird killers are more equal than others. Our new elite is ever more defined by who has the best pull with the administration. So long as government grows, so too will this government-created inequality."

Summing Up

Long ago in 1887 Lord Acton said this, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

And as Humpty Dumpty said about words and what they mean, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."

So now that we realize we're all down at the "Animal Farm" and that "1984" has either come or is at least nearby, let's be careful when hearing the politicians use words like fairness, paying our fair share, government investment, government assistance, inequality, and the overall wonderfulness of the Affordable Care Act, individual doctor selection and so forth.And let's even question the premise of whether all who have earned lots of money in our capitalistic system of free enterprise are really nothing more than nasty 1%-ers and greedy bastards who are going to ruin our country unless the government knows best gang protects us.

Sadly, we're merely witnessing public sector power politics at work in today's America.

And that's why I say and firmly believe that politics sucks.

But in the end, we will get the government we deserve. The Founding Fathers made sure of that.So in the meantime, rely on yourself and do what you can to learn the truth and take good care of your family, friends and neighbors, as well as those in need.